


Ghosts

by akire_yta



Series: prompt ficlets [343]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 07:17:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8480593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: a flashfic prompted off preludeinz's recap of Ghost Ship (that is actually set around the time of Skyhook.  Go figure)





	

There’s a line in John’s certification file, sealed under medical records protection, that gets brought up every time he re-qualifies.

 _Inability to adjust to down-time_.

It’s rare that John gets accused of being able to _not_ do something that apparently he should.  His entire life was shaped by the idea that he did, he achieved, he succeeded, and he did his duty, so that single comment, scrawled like an afterthought, has become the one sore point on an otherwise routine procedure.  He deflected the question as best he could, every time, and hoped the surgeon wouldn’t press the point further.

Ironically, for someone who lived in orbit, John was terrified of falling.

He woke up, breathing hard and sweaty, more often than he’d admit to anyone.  The dream was the same in its broad structure, differing only in the details.

An emergency call unanswered, a victim unable to be found.  And it was all his fault.

After waking like that, John liked to spend time using TB5′s scanners to check the airwaves, make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

The first dream, after Eos, she’d overriden him after 18 hours and blacked out the scanners.  John usually hated arguments, hated the noise and the passion, but after the catharsis, Eos never interfered with those scans again.

Scott is harder to dissuade.  “Come on, John,” Scott wheedled, looking bright-eyed and refreshed after a long sleep.  “You’re always telling us Eos is helpful, and we still have Earthside comms if something does happen.”

In the end, it had taken an order, furiously given and petulantly obeyed.  Virgil greeting him at the dock.  “Come on,” he said, falling into step besides John.  John swayed slightly; holograms had no mass, and everything seemed too big, too close.  “Gordon’s got plans.”

“Gordon can shove it.”  John’s still smarting from his argument with Scott.  “I need to check in.”

“Nope,” Virgil said, popping on the p-sound.  “Word is in from the highest authority.  You’re on downtime, brother.”

John took a deep breath.  “Where’s Scott, I need…”

Virgil cut him off.  “Not Scott.  Orders from grandma.”  He grinned at John’s expression.  “Hey, be grateful it’s a staycation, and she’s not dragging you off on an actual holiday.”

John hated having no good choices.  His room tasted dusty, the air stale, and he considered throwing open the windows, but that would let in the tropical heat that he knew would just make him feel worse.  “Hey kiddo,” grandma said behind him.  She came in and sat on the end of his bed.  “Got any grand plans for your downtime?”

John couldn’t argue, not with grandma.  He could feel his teeth grinding.  “Grandma, you know what I do isn’t nine to five, I really need to…”

She cut him off with a wave.  “None of you boys do, but they at least get to dock their ships and walk away at night.  You need to spend time away from Five, recharge your batteries.”  She patted his arm.  “Get some sun, go swimming, read a trashy novel.  You’ll get the hang of it.”

She was gone before John could finally get words around his thoughts.  “Five _is_ where I recharge,” he muttered to the empty room.

Downstairs, he found Alan and Gordon playing a computer game.  “Hey!” Alan called out, pausing the game and ignoring Gordon’s annoyed noise.  “Welcome home.”

John bit his tongue.  “Is Scott around?”

Gordon was sniggering as he pointed to the kitchen.  “Cue World War Three,” John heard him mutter to Alan when they thought he was out of earshot.

Scott was making a sandwich.  “Don’t even say it, John,” he said, not even turning around.

“I should be…”

Scott finally turned, taking a bite out of his sandwich.  “Here.  We miss your stupid face, idiot,” he added fondly.

John slumped slightly against the side of the counter. “I’m only ever a call away,” he pointed out.

Scott pushed the plate, with the other half of his sandwich, across the counter.  “Not the same.  Come on,” he wheedled.  “How often do we get more than a few hours of quiet?  Let’s enjoy it, together.  Please?”

It was the please that did it.  “Fine,” John sighed, picking up the sandwich.  “But what are we going to do?”

Scott laughed.  “Nothing,” he announced like it was something good, something desirable.  He slapped John’s shoulder, and John dropped the sandwich back onto the plate.

Nothing was where the ghosts came from.

John tried swimming laps with Gordon, until Gordon got competitive and then got bored by John’s steady stroke.  He tried reading one of Kayo’s terrible novels, laid out on a lounger in the shade, but the heroine’s problems were of her own making, and John found himself wincing at her every bad decision.  He pretended not to hear Alan when he suggested taking a nap.

Even awake, John was thinking about the calls for help unheard and unheeded.  In his dreams, he forgets about Eos, dreamed himself as he was before, carrying the whole world himself.  If he napped, he knew he’d wake up calling out for the victims he had dreamed.

The time dragged by, each tick and eon.

Behind him, his brothers were talking about the long quiet spell, the lack of calls.  John tore his bagel into bits, his fingers darting and fidgety, and talked himself out of arguing back.

Eos was listening, he told himself like a mantra.  No-one was going unheard.

“We haven’t just sat around the house like this in years.”

John was on his feet before he even realized he’d already made a decision.  “I’m going to the office,” he told them.

Scott caught up with him as he came out of his small suit-up area, his new uniform already settling back onto his skin.  “John, I thought we agreed.  You needed a holiday.”

John smiled, stepping down onto the gantry towards his elevator pod, forcing Scott to fall into step.  “I can’t do nothing, Scott.  I need…I like to keep busy.  There’s some things I want to do on Five.  That’s my idea of a recharge.”

“Okay.”

John stopped, feet from his pod.  “Okay?  I was expecting an argument.”

Scott rested against the railing, his posture open and relaxed as he looked right at John.  “So was I, but you know what?  That, right there, talking about Five?  That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile since you hit dirt.”  He rolled his eyes and waved towards the open pod door.  “So go on, get out of here.”

As John pulled the restraints down, Eos chattering away even as she wound up the cable, he felt the weight of the world wrap back around him as they rose through the sky.  The familiar pressure of duty pushed him back together, and John nodded as the signals started to reconnect him to the world.


End file.
